Small Engine Repair Workshop- Heather Ramsay of Uminami Farms is planning to offer a winter workshop about small engine repair oriented to people who are starting from the very basics. Interested people can contact her at: heather.ramsay@gmail.com.

Pests & Diseases farmers are fighting currently in our area:
Johne’s Disease-see here for more info

Symphylans – a common pest problem. Although a solution has not yet been found to deal with them, information about this pest can be found online. One resource can be foundhere.

White Rot – a pathogen that effects alliums, garlic in particular.This fungus builds up in the soil once it has been introduced from off-farm and wipes out the ability to grow garlic over the long term. It propagates by the production of round, poppy seed-sized sclerotia produced on the roots of decayed host plants. Maarten Dankers is attempting to get the sclerotia to germinate by drenching the soil with a garlic water solution. Idea is that once they germinate and find no alliums to feed on, hopefully they will die.A good web page to review can be foundhere.

Tansy Ragwort – an invasive plant. It flowers in summer, so if you can spend some time clearing your fields or the road allowance, it will prevent the spread of hundreds of thousands of seeds. Remember to wear your gloves when you pull it! More information can be found here.

Sooke Region Farmer ClubAn opportunity for farmers to share information and resources. This group of Sooke area growers meets every two months on different farms in the Sooke region.

Next Meeting TBAContact Mary Alice Johnson for details at mary@almfarms.org

Past Meeting Notes:

May 19 See notes on pricing and suppliers on building a caterpillar tunnel (talked about at this meeting) here

So You Want to Farm in Sooke Book

From the 2009/10 Sooke Region Farm Mentorship Project came a great resource book that gathers information about local growing, sources for supplies and much more. Drawn from people who have farmed in the area, and many great resources local, regional, provincial and national, this is our launching pad for a how to farm’ guide for Sooke. The manual is available for purchase of $5 for a pdf copy. Email for details.